ART: BRIAN REA
Name That Element Last year the periodic table
welcomed the 112th element, a product of nuclear fusion.
A German-led team had identified 112, the heaviest element yet,
in 1996. They want to dub it copernicium in honor of 16th-century
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, whose sun-centric model of the
planetary system mirrors the structure of an atom, with electrons
orbiting a nucleus. The International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry should sign off on the label this year.
Traditionally, scientists named elements more or less at will,
favoring planets, mythological figures, or properties like color.
In the 1800s nationalism kicked in, and researchers paid homage
to native lands. U.S. and Soviet scientists later tangled over names
of elements they'd vied to discover. In recent years IUPAC issued
naming guidelines to avert scuffles. One rule: Until a name is
finalized, a Latin-based placeholder is assigned. For element 112,
it's the ungainly "ununbium"---or one one two.
---Hannah Bloch
SCIENCE
NAMED FOR ...
Francium derives
from its discoverer's
native France.
Promethium, found via
nuclear fission, refers
to the figure from
Greek myth who stole
fire from the gods.
Rhodium turns pink in
solution. It's named for
rhodon, Greek for "rose."
Plutonium follows
neptunium in the peri-
odic table, just as Pluto
comes after Neptune.
Helium, glimpsed in
a solar eclipse, is from
helios, Greek for "sun."